Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

#311

Post by imustbeevil » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 2:47 AM UTC

justin66 wrote: post #243

imustbeevil wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't require capital. You can do it without involving other people. You don't need profit motivation. You can complete projects without the requirement that they produce enough income for you to survive off of. No deadlines. Less responsibilities. Quitting doesn't hurt other people. If you enjoy writing poetry you're also saving the money you would have spent paying for dopamine. Edit: It's very difficult to mo…

Nothing about your reply has anything to do with why a person might create poetry.

The person I responded to asked why someone would choose Poetry over Business.

Can you really, honestly, read what I wrote and say that I didn't try to come up with reasons why someone would choose Poetry over Business?

Re: Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

#312

Post by degrews » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:40 AM UTC

i_am_nomad wrote: post #70

Odd that he includes Paris in that list of superior places. My two weeks in Paris last summmer left me shocked at how filthy it is, how crowded the public transit is, and how unremarkable (compared to expectations). the food is. And I say that as a San Franciscan.

See Paris Syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome

Re: Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

#313

Post by degrews » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 4:12 AM UTC

JaceLightning wrote: post #187

Are they really? I can own a 6000 square foot house for $2,500/ month in most of the country. Try doing that in Europe.

I don't agree with the original article at all, but I find this comment quite ironic. Almost no European except for the very rich is thinking about owning a 6000 square foot house, it's just not a priority. But it doesn't surprise me that an American would. And I think that difference is illustrative of the American vs European narrative the author is alluding to.

The aspiration of owning a 6000 square foot house probably costs the American a lot of things the European _would_ value: not having to be so career-focused to make enough money, not having to take on as much debt, living in a higher-density urban area which makes other things mentioned in the article possible (taking the train, going to cafes, casually stopping for groceries, all the while being surrounded by other people)...

Re: Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

#314

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 5:08 AM UTC

imustbeevil wrote: post #311

justin66 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing about your reply has anything to do with why a person might create poetry.

The person I responded to asked why someone would choose Poetry over Business. Can you really, honestly, read what I wrote and say that I didn't try to come up with reasons why someone would choose Poetry over Business?

[deleted]

Re: Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

#315

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 5:20 AM UTC

imustbeevil wrote: post #311

justin66 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing about your reply has anything to do with why a person might create poetry.

The person I responded to asked why someone would choose Poetry over Business. Can you really, honestly, read what I wrote and say that I didn't try to come up with reasons why someone would choose Poetry over Business?

[deleted]

Re: Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

#316

Post by justin66 » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 5:55 AM UTC

imustbeevil wrote: post #311

justin66 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing about your reply has anything to do with why a person might create poetry.

The person I responded to asked why someone would choose Poetry over Business. Can you really, honestly, read what I wrote and say that I didn't try to come up with reasons why someone would choose Poetry over Business?

When I read what you wrote, in conjunction with this defensive post asking me to speculate as to what you were trying to do, I think of the OP's question as a question on an exam and your reply as the work of a student familiar with the concept of "business" and utterly unaware of the concept of "poetry."

Re: Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

#317

Post by ulisesrmzroche » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 6:03 AM UTC

bepotts wrote: post #106

cribbles wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One reason that Europe has very few innovative new companies created in the last 25 years is that everyone is at the coffee shop writing poetry. This does not dispute the central point of the quoted piece, which is that the quality of life of most Americans is very poor contrast to that of the average person in some subset of European countries. I would wager that most coffee shop employees are more concerned with…

Americans don't believe the onus is on the whole to make sure the individual lives a happy life. We just don't have the collectivist culture the Europeans have. I think this is a great thing, and is why America is where most of the innovation, cultural, and political power is. I personally have lower taxes, high quality healthcare, and live in an awesome location, and I got all of that through an education and traini…

"...and I got all of that through an education and training."

Who are you? Where are you from? What color is your skin? Are you male? Etcetera

Re: Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

#318

Post by close04 » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 7:57 AM UTC

sweeeety wrote: post #281

close04 wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then I would rather say the issue is with Denmark (laws, politicians, people, whoever you see as the main culprit) rather than a European issue. Denmark is one of the smaller countries (size and population) in the EU so generalizing based on that example seems like an overreaction. Also I can't find any reference anywhere supporting the idea that physical abuse from the locals is a common practice in Denmark. There's…

You are right that it might be a particular problem from Denmark but I also see it is common to share the positiveness of EU across all States (like saying assuming quality health care is universal across EU) but single out negativities when convenient. The use case pointed with Mississippi is one of those absurd edge cases. It would be more suitable to say you don't generalize the USA as a country full of pick truck…

I just picked one of the members of a union, chose a weak point, and generalized it to the whole union. Is it not similar to the Europe/Denmark situation?

Re: Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

#319

Post by piva00 » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 9:37 AM UTC

seibelj wrote: post #20

> In London, Paris, Berlin, I hop on the train, head to the cafe — it’s the afternoon, and nobody’s gotten to work until 9am, and even then, maybe not until 10 — order a carefully made coffee and a newly baked croissant, do some writing, pick up some fresh groceries, maybe a meal or two, head home — now it’s 6 or 7, and everyone else has already gone home around 5 — and watch something interesting, maybe a documentar…

Tell me then how Sweden can be as productive and innovative as it is while most people work from 9-5 (or even 9-4) on office jobs and get shit done?

Why should everyone strive to be the MOST PRODUCTIVE person ever, here we work to live, not live to work as is my impression of American work culture.

The worst part is that the US export that fucked up culture to satellite countries, I came from Brazil to Sweden, Brazil is basically a poor and uneducated US regarding individualism and work culture, I would never want to work in that environment again.

I don't need to be rich here in Sweden to enjoy my life, I can travel, I can have hobbies that require expensive gear, everything that a normal person would like to have to have a very comfortable life is accessible. In Brazil (and from what I've seen partly in the US) people just want to get rich to get to this level of accessibility.

It's a very different mindset and I can tell it is much healthier for everyday folks.

Re: Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

#320

Post by eecc » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 9:58 AM UTC

Bodell wrote: post #241

bepotts wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans don't believe the onus is on the whole to make sure the individual lives a happy life. We just don't have the collectivist culture the Europeans have. I think this is a great thing, and is why America is where most of the innovation, cultural, and political power is. I personally have lower taxes, high quality healthcare, and live in an awesome location, and I got all of that through an education and traini…

These "pull yourself up by your bootstraps” comments, always seem to reek of the Munchhausen Trilemma[0]. Take that to mean whatever you will, however I'd say from my own personal experience most of the bootstrap pulling seems only to further selfish means, or worse is just some sort of wheel spinning that no one sees gains from. Due to the overwhelming amount of memoirs and op-ed's and other things of the like that…

> Not trying to be rude here but "the morally right thing...(is to) make a better future for YOU" is really laughable honestly. I am not broadly traveled but this sort of sentiment seems uniquely American.

I think it has something to do with Calvinism and how it basically provides moral coverage for the status-quo: your wealth is a reflection of your morality so that have whatever you have, you deserved it.